Safety Net About to Open
First published Oct. 11, 2008 in The Daily Item
With the value of many investments in a free fall and Americans losing their jobs at the rate of 100,000-plus per month, it is clear that more people than ever will be facing legal problems in the coming days and a large percentage of those people will have to address their legal problems without the benefit of counsel. Unfortunately, financial problems and legal problems go hand in hand. Like the rest of the country, the good residents of this area will not escape their fair share of foreclosures, bankruptcies, debt collection claims, eviction proceedings and domestic relations cases, including those seeking a divorce or legal separation, child custody, visitation or support.
Before the current financial crisis, it was estimated that 25,000 people in Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties could not afford to hire counsel to represent them in a civil proceeding. Whatever the number was before, it is undoubtedly higher today and will continue to grow. North Penn Legal Services, the area legal aid provider, has limited resources and cannot represent all who qualify based on annual income for its services. It must turn away thousands of area residents.
Fortunately, a safety net is about to open. On Oct. 20, the Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society at Susquehanna University will begin to operate, free of charge, the Neysa C. Adams Pro Se Assistance and Mediation Clinic at the CareerLink Building in Selinsgrove, which is located at 713 Bridge Street. The clinic has been established primarily to help residents of Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties who are involved in a dispute and are unable financially to secure counsel. However, no one will be turned away. Visitors to the clinic seeking to hire counsel will be referred to conveniently located attorneys who practice in the relevant subject area. Clinic visitors who would like to meet with an attorney briefly to learn about their legal rights and obligations will be referred to an area attorney who has agreed to consult with clients at a reduced fee for 30 minutes with the understanding that the attorney-client relationship may not extend beyond that meeting. In a few cases, the clinic will also be able to refer the visitor to an area attorney who has agreed to take on a limited number of legal matters without charge or “pro bono.”
For those who will represent themselves in court (known as “pro se” litigants), the clinic will supply and help them complete necessary court forms and paperwork and provide general information regarding court procedures and requirements. Forms and instructions will be available at the clinic and on-line for a wide variety of the most commonly filed civil proceedings. The clinic will collaborate with North Penn Legal Services to provide educational programming and make available a series of video tapes that may be viewed at the clinic about the most frequently filed civil proceedings.
The clinic is not able to provide and will not provide legal advice. The forms and instructions the clinic will make available are not and should not be considered a substitute for professional legal advice tailored to a specific fact situation.
The clinic also offers cost-free mediation services to those who want to try to resolve a dispute by reaching a mutually acceptable agreement. The clinic will mediate almost any dispute, without regard to the nature of the conflict and whether it might be resolved by court proceedings. For example, the clinic will mediate disputes relating to a separation or possible divorce; child custody and support disputes; landlord/tenant disputes; disputes between neighbors, classmates, family members, co-workers and business owners; labor and management disputes; and consumer disputes. The clinic’s mediators are impartial and professionally trained to listen objectively to parties and help them resolve their disputes on their own terms. Legal problems often are associated with other issues in one’s life. Therefore, the clinic will make available to its visitors brochures and other written information regarding area professionals and both governmental and non-governmental agencies providing a variety of social and other services.
The clinic will initially be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 – 5 p.m., and the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Over time, the clinic hopes to open additional offices and expand its hours of operation. The clinic looks forward to serving the residents of our community.
Allan Sobel is the director of the Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society at Susquehanna University.
